It is a
dreadful, dreadful business, and Isaac will hold me responsible for it
all."
"Is there no further clue?" asked Thorndyke. "What about the cab, for
instance?"
"Oh, the cab," groaned Loewe--"that clue failed. The police must have
mistaken the number. They telephoned immediately to all the police
stations, and a watch was set, with the result that number 72,863 was
stopped as it was going home for the night. But it then turned out that
the cab had not been off the rank since eleven o'clock, and the driver
had been in the shelter all the time with several other men. But there
is a clue; I have it here."
Mr. Loewe's face brightened for once as he reached out for the bandbox.
"The houses in Howard Street," he explained, as he untied the fastening,
"have small balconies to the first-floor windows at the back. Now, the
thief entered by one of these windows, having climbed up a rain-water
pipe to the balcony. It was a gusty night, as you will remember, and
this morning, as I was leaving the house, the butler next door called to
me and gave me this; he had found it lying in the balcony of his house.
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